Hi,

I have been recently coding a basic directx11/c++ FPS game where player can walk on a simple terrain.

I want to start implementing simple multiplayer functionality, my game will be two(or more) players join to server and shoot each other until someone wins the game. Yeah very basic I know.

I have couple of questions:

- Are there simple tutorials/example of how to handle packages/connection/data via UDP so I can sync player positions and some other simple data between players? Maybe some very simple fps skeleton of game would be best to learn from.

- How should I implement the server, I'm thinking I could setup my own domain and run server on it. Any ideas how to have player join to this server from their clients and then join to some "room" where they are in the same game?

- OR, if this is very hard to implement, I could connect players directly from clients.

- I know it is not easy to implement this, but Im patient and want to learn it!

Thanks,

tone

- Don't do it yourself if you have no experience. Use Enet, or some other library. Start slow with basic sandboxes (sending / receiving messages, see what goes on).

- do a LAN prototype first, then you can think of internet play.

If you want to learn about multiplayer gaming, and basic communication (UDP / TCP, sockets), Look these up

First two are ok for beginners, rest is quite advanced. So tread lightly.

Beej's Guide to Network Programming

http://gafferongames.com/

Source Multiplayer Networking

QUAKE 3 SOURCE CODE REVIEW: NETWORK MODEL

It's no big deal these days. You can set up your own lobby server with a 100dollar box (or whatever computer you can leave on 24/7) connected to your regular internet connection via dynamic DNS services (they exist even for free still, like no-ip.com). Then do some NAT punch through (you handshake both parties), send some messages and presto.

To send and receive messages you need to set up some kind of software routing.

I would recommend you to stay away from NAT punch through in the beginning. It can be hell, and some times even impossible (in which case you need a proxy server to relay messages through). NAT punch through is not a must for a game, in fact a lot of games don't use it. As long as the server port is open to the internet (or LAN if you're playing on LAN) you don't need to worry about it. In other words just make sure to forward the port in your router/firewall.

NAT punch through is a good thing to include, but it is only a part of the initialization if the server is behind a firewall, and you should not worry about that yet. Focus on getting the game play working first

As papalazaru says, test it on LAN - or localhost first, before taking it online. If you are comfortable with writing and reading from byte arrays, doing networking from scratch is not that much of a hassle - imho.

NAT punch through is necessary when you allow players to host games/servers on their own. If you host the server, it's not necessary.

I agree with the others -- use an existing library. The choices are usually Enet if you want a low-level library, or RakNet if you want a slightly-higher-level library.